daniel kok / diskodanny.com
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Daniel Kok studied Fine Art & Critical Theory (Goldsmiths College, London), Solo/Dance/Authorship (HZT, Berlin) and Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies (APASS, Brussels). In 2008, he received the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council (Singapore).
His artistic research explores the politics of inter-subjective relationality. By drawing a key distinction between spectatorship and audienceship, he highlights the tension between the experience of an individual and that of a group. From 2010 to 2018, he created performances through ‘figures of performance’ - such as the pole dancer, cheerleader, and military commander - each engaging the crowd through specific tools and protocols.
Since 2014, he has collaborated with Melbourne-based artist Luke George on a performance practice based on rope bondage that investigates collective negotiations of consent and intimacy. Their performances are live experiments in democratic politics and acquiescence, welcoming failure as part of a radical approach to consensus and coalescence. Their work has been presented across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America, including at the Venice Biennale, AsiaTOPA (Melbourne), Singapore International Festival of Arts, and Taipei Arts Festival. Still Lives: Melbourne won Outstanding Contemporary and Experimental Performance and Design/Technical Achievement at the 2023 Green Room Awards.
As Artistic Director of DANCE NUCLEUS (Singapore), Daniel develops capacity for independent artists and builds trans-local partnerships across the Asia-Pacific. He regularly coaches younger artists in the formulation of their praxes across four domains - Research, Creation, Production, and Dissemination - treating independent artistic production as a question of dramaturgy in and of itself. He also curates the da:ns LAB coaching programme and the VECTOR exhibition of performance annually with support from the Esplanade (Singapore).
Daniel Kok is based between Singapore and Berlin.
C.V.
DANCE NUCLEUS
DANCE NUCLEUS is a choreographic centre for the capability development of independent artists and the creative development of contemporary performance. DANCE NUCLEUS enables a network of trans-local partnerships in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific.
Led by Daniel Kok as Artistic Director, DANCE NUCLEUS is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028.
Key Programmes that Dance Nucleus delivers annually include:
VECTOR Exhibition of Performance
[CP]3 Certificate Programme for Critical Practice in Contemporary Performance
da:ns LAB Coaching Programme for Artistic Production
ELEMENT Residency for Trans-Local Exchange
ARTEFACT Residency for Creative Development
DANCE NUCLEUS WEBSITE
OTHER ESSAYS
I&Love&You
Collaboration as a Lover’s Discourse
PEOPLE WATCHING PEOPLE
Luke George’s “Public Actions” as a Social Choreography
Field Notes on Criticality & Communality
3 Monologues to Trick Myself Into Dancng
A Letter To Dance
Adapted Text for Deufert&Plischke’s Just In Time
PEOPLE MATTER
Relational Aestheics, Choreography, & Service Design
The Independent Artist & Informal Networks
Keynote Speech for APAM 2018
Repairing Social Bonds in the Performing Arts
A Chat with AI during the Pandemic